Wednesday 23 February 2011

Benedict Bars

The trouble with reading food blogs is they always make me hungry. I think it is impossible to look at pages of cakes, pies, tarts and all manner of other delicious things without feeling a little bit envious. And then it becomes all too tempting to reach for the biscuit tin. To avoid snacking endlessly, I have a few times I prefer to read blogs: 1) Last thing at night – having just brushed my teeth I’m not feeling the need to eat more or 2) First thing in the morning on my phone – its unlikely that early in the morning I will be motivated enough to move for food unless its proper breakfast. Of course, there are downsides to these as well. When I came across these Benedict bars last thing at night it became rather difficult to go to sleep as I craved some nutty, jammy, biscuity goodness…

DSCF8444When I finally got round to making these I was not disappointed. The recipe makes a generous tray full but I know that tray will be finished very soon. The bars are comprised of a layer of shortbread, a thin layer of jam (I chose cherry instead of the suggested raspberry) and a flaked almond topping. Boy, do these layers work well together. The time in the oven toasted the almonds and enhanced their nutty flavour, the jam was sweet and sticky and the shortbread base rounded everything off perfectly. Definitely a fan. DSCF8454 I don’t think I would make any changes to the recipe. Before baking, I felt the bars looked like they needed extra almonds but I had no spare. However, after baking the layer was definitely thick enough. I did have to bake my bars for 10-15minutes extra than the recipe states to make my almonds golden/toasted but all ovens vary. I look forward to trying these again with different jams – its such an easy recipe and sure to be a hit at school fairs, coffee mornings, afternoon tea….whenever!DSCF8465You can find the recipe here and obviously, I highly recommend it. Now I’m off to catch up on some blogs…safely armed with my hefty square of Benedict bar :)

11 comments:

Dewi said...

Love your nutty bars Lucy. You always come out with an interesting and delicious sweet!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

OMG, those bars look droolworthy! Slices are so irresistible. Right now I am feeling envious! ;-P

Cheers,

Rosa

La Table De Nana said...

I too like to see and think of rich desserts after I brush my teeth..because I am not about to start over..

These look great Lucy..I love when you try things out:)

Stephanie said...

I have the same problem as you with reading food blogs. I love your strategies to avoid getting so hungry. I've never made Benedict bars but they look delicious!

Faith said...

I've never heard of these lovely bars before...but now they're all I can think about! ;) They look really fantastic!

apparentlyjessy said...

Oh yummy yum yum. I am very envious of you. I think I need a big square of this delicious looking bar to chew on, especially BEFORE dinner!

The Caked Crusader said...

That sticky nutty topping looks great - almost like florentines...which is an extremely good thing!

Allegra said...

Wow, I'm drooling.
Congratulations, you've won the "Seven Facts" award! It's waiting for you here: http://herestous.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/the-seven-facts-award/.
I know that responding to the award is a big undertaking, but I'm sure you can do it with some of your delicious treats on hand.

verity said...

Thanks for this recipe - it was just the thing I needed to use up some languishing flaked almonds! I used strawberry jam and made a gluten free shortbread but it was very yummy!

Xinmei @ Pudding Pie Lane said...

Haha, I TOTALLY agree with your hungry-ness factor! Whereas you were wise and chose those times, I'm reading your blog at 3.30pm - coffee break from revision time - and now am very, very, VERY much craving those gorgeous benedict bars :)

Anonymous said...

These look soooo delicious! Mmmm! :)